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SA Navy to challenge Somali piracy

27 Feb 2012

According to Business Live reports, international shipping lines are seriously thinking about the safety of their vessels transiting East African waters as the threat of Somali piracy grows. Speaking at a Parliamentary press briefing, Defence and Military Veterans Affairs Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said the threat was growing with 17 incidents reported in Tanzanian waters during the past year.

"As the international patrols off the Somali coast hamper the pirates' ability to operate there, then they move further down and away from the coast," she said.

Last year Sisulu signed an agreement with her Mozambique counterpart to allow the SA Navy to patrol offshore waters there and SA deployed one of its four modern German-built frigates into the Mozambique Channel. According to Sisulu, the SA government's policy with piracy would be changing from one of reaction to deterrence, meaning that the fleet would have to mount a standing patrol of ships and aircraft up the east African coast rather than wait for an incident to happen and then respond, Business Live reports.

Read the full article on www.businesslive.co.za.